Category Archives: Comics
Kate Bishop is Finally Getting Her Own Solo Series!
Can the Hawkeye lightning strike twice? Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye starring Clint Barton is the comic book of the decade, in this henchman’s personal opinion. There have been some minor follow up comics since, but now might finally be the time we get something cool. Writer Kelly Thompson is going to write a Kate Bishop solo Hawkeye series!
That’s pretty neat. I like Thompson’s work, and the art team of Leonardo Romero and Jordie Bellaire has great potential too. I’m really excited for this series.
Thompson had this to say in an interview with io9:
“I think Kate’s got such a strong and singular voice, even when she’s in a group, that once you tap into that voice as a writer, she just sorta bosses you around and tells you what she wants to do. Our series is definitely a spiritual successor to what Matt Fraction and Annie Wu began when they brought Kate to L.A. We’re definitely doing our own thing, but they absolutely laid the groundwork for where we wanted to take Kate. It was the next logical step.”
She compared the comic to the TV show Veronica Mars, which was a great show. And Kate Bishop is a really fun character. I really hope this new series has some legs. I’ll definitely be checking it out in December.
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She-Hulk is Gonna Lose Control in New Series!
Marvel announced a new She-Hulk comic today in which she’s going to go full gritty badass awesome. It’s going to be called just ‘Hulk’ to indicate she’s going hardcore. The teaser cover looks pretty neat.
Some smashing will be involved
The series will be written by Mariko Tamaki, with art by Nico Leon, accordingo A.V. Club. The basic premise is that after the events of Civil War II, Jennifer Walters is going over the edge. She suffered near fatal injuries, and her cousin, Bruce Banner, was assassinated by her fellow superheroes. Sounds like a solid premise to me.
According to Axel Alonso:
“The title She-Hulk evokes light-hearted stories about a Jennifer Walters who is at peace with herself and in full control of her powers. This isn’t that book. On the other hand, the title Hulk implies all of the baggage that comes with that comic’s 50+ year history—the ongoing battle with the monster within—and that’s why it’s more appropriate for this series. Jen went through major trauma in Civil War II, and Mariko and Nico’s story will deal with the fallout of that trauma—the anxiety and anger, sometimes self-destructive, that comes along with it. If there is light at the end of the tunnel, Jen is going to have to search hard for it, and she’s going to have to battle with some pretty big monsters—including the one within—to find herself again.”
This all sounds pretty awesome to me. I am a huge fan of trying new things with classic superheroes, and this sounds right up my alley. Maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t; we’ll find out.
At least they’re not calling it ‘Superior She-Hulk’.
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 9/17/16
Brace yourselves, people, this week is a wild one. What will be the fate of Tim Drake? Dare we keep reading and find out? Robin is one of my all-time favorite comic book characters, and Tim Drake is my favorite Robin. Can I even stand to read the new issue of Detective Comics?
You’re gosh darn right I am! It wins Comic Book of the Week for a blowout issue, but you’re going to have to keep reading to find out why.
That’s right, Tim, drop the word ‘Red’
This week also saw a large release of a lot of non-Big Two comics that I’m reading. So even though DC Comics had a few other treats this week, I’ve decided to forgo them all and focus on some indie darlings like Faith and Kaijumax! This week’s reviews feature four different publishers!
Comic Reviews: Detective Comics #940, Faith #3, Kaijumax #4, Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy #4, and Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers — Pink #3.
Comic Review: Teen Titans #24
And so we arrive at the end of the Teen Titans in the New 52. It has been an incredible journey, from the heights of potential, to horrendous mediocrity, to these past few limped along months. For reasons that are unknown to me, DC Comics decided to stick with the core team and concept for the New 52 Titans for the entire five year span of the imprint, despite shaking things up pretty much everywhere else at the company. Heck, this comic has even survived past the New 52 itself, with Rebirth all anyone is talking about. Yet we come not to bury Teen Titans, but to honor it.
Because Teen Titans goes out with an issue I always wanted from this series, but never got. In fact, Teen Titans #24 proves there was a good comic hiding in these pages all along.
Comic Review: 7/10 – Good.
But even as we try to say goodbye to Teen Titans, I still get to hang my head and sigh one last time. Because this isn’t really the finale of Teen Titans, it’s an epilogue/tie-in to this week’s Detective Comics #940. So despite everything this comic has done for itself after all these years, despite keeping the core team and concept together all this time, Teen Titans doesn’t actually get to end on its own merits. The finale is just a follow up to another, much better comic. How embarrassing.
I will be spoiling the big news in Detective Comics #940, so don’t read ahead if you don’t want to be spoiled — though I’m not sure why someone would read my review of Teen Titans before reading that phenomenal Detective Comics issue.
Suffice to say, Teen Titans #24 is a series of vignettes as the remaining Titans recall some of their favorite moments with one of their favorite team members. The scenes have real character to them, the sort of character that was almost entirely missing from Teen Titans as a series. If we had anything in the comic even approaching the scenes mentioned in this final issue, Teen Titans could have been pretty good.
Instead, we bid everybody goodbye and will likely speak no more about this version of the Teen Titans. Let’s hope the next people do a better job.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and review!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 9/10/16
Anybody else get real lazy on a vacation? And I don’t mean a vacation where you go on an awesome trip and have great adventures. I mean a staycation, where you largely spend the time sitting at home playing video games, reading comics and occasionally venturing out to catch Pokemon. That’s the kind of vacation I just had, and it was pretty neat. But man, did it take a lot of effort to actually write comic book reviews this week. But I got it done!
Some quality comics this week, including Iron Man, Nightwing and Doctor Strange, even. But Comic Book of the Week easily and handily goes to Harley Quinn #3, for bringing joy and romance to all of comics! There is no better relationship these days than Harley and Ivy!
What was she going to say?!
They are a shining beacon in all of comics. If only Nightwing was this much fun. Or Iron Man. And the new Supergirl Rebirth would have greatly benefited from some of that charisma.
Comic Reviews: Doctor Strange #11, Harley Quinn #3, Invincible Iron Man #13, Nightwing #4 and Supergirl #1.
Henchman-4-Hire